Shadow Broker
"We all on the same frequency?" I questioned, getting a nod from both of them. Mordin was wearing a standard Salarian armor set, with slight hints of customization. Thane had his alternate suit from ME2, with a recon hood. And I had my new armor set on, feeling a bit heavier than I remember, but I suppose that's because I'm used to light armor.
"I've got contacts on radar" Mordin yelled, and three drones came out of a hatch on the hull. Four shots from my mattock took out two, and a sniper crack from Thane dropped the last one. I waved forward, and we proceeded down the ship. About 1 minute into our little jog, I spotted five agents coming around the corner.
"Contact 12 o'clock! Thane use pull, Mordin target that lightning capacitor." I barked, and they followed, Thane threw one of them off the ship, and Mordin fried three more from the capacitor. I aimed my rifle at the remaining agent, took two shots, missing both. I griped my rifle tight, took out his shields with the next two rounds. The next round took him down, and we proceeded up the ship.
"For someone with little to no combat experience, you seem to know what you're doing" Thane quipped.
"I concur, that was a quick reaction, and effective plan" Mordin said.
"Yeah, well, let's just say that this isn't my first rodeo" I replied, getting confused looks from both of them. "We need to hang a left here, over that ledge." The second we got over that ledge, a small hatch to our left opened up, pouring out 6 drones. Then to our right, 6 agents came out, peppering my shields, forcing me into cover. I look over, and see Mordin and Thane are also pinned down from focused fire of the drones.
"Thane, cover Mordin. Mordin, overload those drones, I'll deal with those agents." I yelled, and immediately popped up and ran to cover adjacent to where I was, taking out one of the Agents, and lobbing a grenade towards their position, taking out one more. I look back to Mordin, and see he only has two drones left, never mind, make that one. I pop around the corner to see where the remaining four agents are, and immediately feel a searing pain, throwing myself back into cover.
Looking down, they got me on my right thigh, and before I could react, I felt a soothing feeling from the suits medigel kicking in. I pop out again, and see one of the agents float up and fly off, and I take down one more before my shields drop again. By now Mordin has moved up to where I am.
"You ok?" he asked.
I nodded, "nothing medigel can't handle." Mordin and I pop up, see the two remaining agents. One drops down from Thanes rifle, and Mordin and I unload on the last agent. Back in formation, we keep moving on.
"Looks like a dead end" Thane suggested.
"Perhaps there's a way around this lightning rod?" Mordin questioned.
I just walked over to the terminal, grab the handle on the console that just blends in with the rest of the hull, and pull it up, lowering the lightning rod. I look over to the both of them, grinning with a shrug.
"Let's go" I say, moving down the newly revealed path toward the hatch. "That's our hatch Mordin, can you hack it?"
"Yes" he says, examining the hatch, "should take me about a minute, but we have people coming in, from our left."
"Care to join me?" I ask towards Thane, with a slight bow. He simply nodded, pulling out his submachine gun. We immediately run out towards the left, quickly running into heavy resistance. I start popping shots at them, while Thane is using his biotics and keeping them pinned down with his submachine gun, but we're heavily outnumbered, and come to a complete stand still.
"Mordin," I chimed over our comms, "we're kinda stumped here, could use some back up."
"Fall back to the hatch, I've got it open, but they have reinforcements coming in from your rear flank." Mordin responded.
I immediately nodded over to Thane, and came out of cover to lay down suppressing fire. We did this, switching on and off until we reached the hatch. Once we got to the hatch, we had to deal with cross fire from our flank. I nodded to Thane, and he got up and made a run for the hatch, while I put down suppressive fire towards the left, while Mordin laid down fire to our flank. Once he reached the hatch, he turned around and started laying down fire. I turned around and ran towards them, and not even half way to the hatch my shields drop down to forty percent. About ten feet from them, my shields drop to zero, and I dive towards the hatch as Mordin went to close it. As I landed I felt a searing pain in my back and shoulder, and see Thane run towards me using his omnitool, applying medigel.
"Thanks" I said, and he nodded. I look at myself, and notice that I have three bullet holes in me, one on my thigh, my left shoulder, and on the right side of my torso, right below my ribcage. My first real mission is going just swimmingly, this is a hell lot harder than in the games, and painful.
"What are you doing?" I asked, limping towards Mordin.
"I've locked this hatch, and I've just locked all other hatches on the ship, trapping the brokers forces outside. I'm also reprogramming all the drones to attack anyone outside who's not us. I also altered the lightning capacitors to start discharging over the surface of the ship, nothing that will damage its operation, but will help deal with some of the Brokers forces."
"You can do that?" I questioned.
"Done" Mordin responded, "we should move." I nodded and started moving out, but then I was grabbed from behind, and see Mordin doing something. Before I could do anything my armor suddenly got lighter, and the shields nearly doubled.
"What the hell?" I said.
"Your armor has assisted movement, and your redundant shields were on, not your main ones. You must have forgot to turn them on." He replied.
"That's a thing?" I asked. And he just looked at me like I was an idiot.
"Yes."
"Alright, let's move out." I said, and immediately agents came around the corner, opening fire.
"Hold your position at all costs" came a voice over the intercom.
"Sounds a little scared" I quipped.
"Be careful, a cornered animal is a dangerous thing." Thane chimed in.
With my renewed armor, going through the rest of the brokers forces was quick and easy, especially with Mordin and Thane with me.
"What is that?" Thane asked.
"It appears to be the torture and prison block of the ship" Mordin said.
"Let's go, once we own the ship we'll have plenty of time to explore, we should ready our ML-77s, the broker's in the next room, through that door." I chimed in, "aim for the glowing dome over him." We walked through the door, and in front of us sat the Shadow Broker.
"I'm going to look forward to torturing you to find out how you knew where to find me." The ugly Yahg said, with an odd grin on his face.
"Let's finish this." I spoke, pulling out my launcher. I aim at the giant shield generator, and pull the trigger, with two more shots going off after mine. A white light quickly descended from the roof, covering the yahg, and suddenly he exploded, throwing us all to the ground. I slowly get up, checking myself for injuries, and looking over at Mordin and Thane, to make sure they're okay.
"Shadow Broker, this is operative Murat. We had a momentary connection failure. Can you confirm status?" a voice came from the computer.
"Operative Shora requesting update. Are we still online?"
"Shadow Broker, we've lost our feed. We are online and awaiting instructions."
Before I could do anything, Thane walks over to the computer, and taps a few buttons.
"This is the Shadow Broker," Thane said, "The situation is under control. We experienced a momentary loss of power while installing some new hardware, disrupting communications momentarily. Resume standard procedures, I want a status report on all operations within the next 12 solar hours. Shadow Broker out."
"That is some quick thinking" I muttered, feeling the medigel wearing off. I fell onto my ass from exhaustion and pain, and Mordin quickly ran towards me.
"Thane, will you go back to the ship and bring it to the ship-bay over here, I'll need my medical equipment. Everyone on the outside should have been dealt with by now." Mordin said, and Thane nodded.
"It's not that bad" I slurred, passing out before I could wave him off.
Oh, fuck me, my head is throbbing like crazy. I open my eyes and see that I'm on the floor in the Broker's office. I look over and see Mordin doing something on his omnitool.
"What happened?" I asked.
"A mixture of pain, blood loss, and exhaustion caused you to pass out." He said, "these wounds aren't going to kill you, but you'll have some small scars. I patched you up for now, I'll fix you up better later, on our way back to drop you off at Arcturus."
"Where's Thane?" I asked.
"Running our new network" Mordin chimed.
"How long was I out?"
"About two hours" he replied.
"How're you feeling?" Thane asked, appearing out of nowhere.
"A little light, but not bad considering I got a couple holes in me." I quipped.
"You alright to talk?" He asked.
"Sure. I take it you'd like my explanation, and who exactly I am, and what I know." I questioned
"Yes", both Mordin and Thane answered, at the same time.
"Very well, first I'll start with my origins, I'm from a different universe." I said
"What?!" Mordin asked.
"How I got here is unknown, even to me, but in my universe, this is all a game. I was a pretty big fan of this game, which is why I know so much about you two. Why I knew about the Shadow Broker, and where to find him, why I know about the Reapers, and what they're capable of. How I know about the beacon on Thessia, how I know certain future events." I said, and they both didn't speak for a minute, and both were a little slacked jaw. "I'd appreciated if one of you spoke."
"What do I say?" Mordin asked, "I want to refute what you're saying, but it all adds up. I don't even know what to do about this information. I knew something was off about you, but I don't think I could have guessed this, and I have no way to refute it. How does something like this happen?"
"What he said," Thane chimed in, "I looked into what you said while you were out using the Broker's network, and it all comes together, but even the Shadow Broker didn't have some of the information you do, where do we even go from here?"
"Well I try not to think about it," I said, "I just appeared here, now I have no family, and knowledge of the fact that the Reapers are coming. So, do you think that this would be a suitable spot to set up your lab?"
"Yes" Mordin said with a smile on his face, "very suitable, and well hidden, perfect for our plans, and massive resources a huge plus."
"Great! What kind of resources we talking 'bout?" I asked.
"Besides the fact I have access to the best information in the galaxy, we have access to his bank accounts. Roughly 2.5 billion credits, and between what we know, over the next 14 years we'll be operating on a very large budget." Mordin stated.
"2.5 billion?! With a 'B'?" I yelled.
"Yes," Thane interjected, "between the advanced V.I.'s, Mordin, and myself, we'll be able to run the network with ease. But the question is, what's your role in the Alliance, and why do you need to stay in cover there?"
"Commander Shepard" I said.
"Shepard?" Mordin asked, "Isn't that the name of the girl you took in?"
"Yes, but she's instrumental in stopping the Reapers." I stated.
"She stops the Reapers?" Thane asked.
"Yes, but hundred of billions still die, that's why we're here, to help shave that down. She discovers that Saren, the rogue spectre, is trying to bring the Reapers back after attacking Eden Prime. She exposes him, getting the council to make her the first Human spectre, and when Saren attacks the Citadel, she saves the council, and because of that and sacrifices of the Alliance, they make Humanity a council race. She's a symbol, and essential that all of that goes down as it's supposed to."
"Oh" Thane said, "I see, but if she was going to do that, why do you need to stay there?"
"Because," I stated "I've already intervened in her life, and me being here can change things, and I've become a rather large part of her life, if I disappear it could affect things in ways I can't predict. But, if I'm here, I could influence any changes so that they aren't universe shattering. So, I need to stay for her, and I'm a little selfish, I want to stay in."
"Then we're all in agreement, I'll figure out a way that we can always have a way to stay in contact, maybe some sort of QEC. I'll look into how our new network stays in contact." Mordin said.
"Very well," Thane said, "I'll start ordering that list of equipment you wanted, I'll have it shipped to Illium."
"Alright, put'em their" I said, putting my hand in front of us, "You both put your hands in, and we dip our hands a little, then shoot them up, while saying 'go team'. It's a human thing." They both nodded, putting their hand in.
"Go Team!" We yelled, and after I just fell to the floor laughing, I can't believe they just did that, it's too easy.